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PS I Love You

Meet Me at the Muster Station

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Review By Kaitlin McNabb

October 1, 2010

PS I Love You – Meet Me at the Muster Station

Who would have thought Kingston, Ontario could produce a hip experimental rock group that would instantly blow every listener’s mind with the first track? Well, its export PS I Love You has done just that with their new album Meet Me at the Muster Station—and then subsequently melted every listener’s face with the rest.

Instrumentally, this album is an upbeat affair, but one that uses fast-paced drums, shredding guitar lines and quivering screams and shouts reminiscent of the Cramps rather than sugary sweet vocals and cutesy keyboard melodies. The whole album absolutely reeks of swagger and coolness. Songs like title track “Meet Me at the Muster Station” and its other half, “Meet Me at the Muster Station (Pt.2)” exemplify the distorted shoegaze feel of the band with droning synthesizers set to melodic guitars and precisely timed vocal quips. Hardcore feedback, screechy guitar lines and heavy drums best heard in “Butterflies and Boners” and “Get Over” are done with effortless grit and edge but never become so overwhelmingly hard as to resemble dissonant noise music. The opening guitar line of “2012” is bang-on in its catchiness, immediately filtering into lead singer Paul Saulnier’s passionate wailings and musings begging people to wonder “Will we ever live to see our dreams?”

The album’s eclectic mix of sounds, rhythms, feels and instruments—almost like a musical grab bag and whatever comes out is unique, catchy and played so hard with so much energy that it develops a personality all its own—provides the originality that is much needed in the musical landscape of indie rock. This is a standout debut album; one far deserving of PS I Love You’s acquired and growing cult status as well as its newfound place on repeat setting in CD players and computers everywhere.